Meridian of Misery
by Jaeger-of-Freiheit
Summary: Hiccup discovers a seemingly endless new island. During his exploration of it, he finds three gigantic walls and within them, remnants of a civilisation far more refined than his own. The only problems are the pests.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: hello everyone, and welcome to Meridian of Misery! There's a few things I'd like to point out before starting to avoid confusion;**

**This fanfic is set a year after HTTYD 1, so sometime during the Riders/Defenders of Berk series, and sometime after the Clash of the Titans/Castle Utgard arc but before the Uprising arc (so no one's kidnapped anyone or anything yet) and there are some minor changes (such as Erwin still having his arm and Hiccup has already started going around looking for new islands). Also the HTTYD side is mostly movie-based but there will be some references to the book-verse as well.**

**(EDIT from the 2nd chapter I'll be including a glossary for any old Norse or book-verse references just incase)  
Ilse of the Skullions- an island from the books filled with dragons called Skullions which have no eyes or ears or even wings but have a large mouth and claws and a heightened sense of smell**

**With all that aside, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Flying through the air is a great feeling. Even if you're not the one actually doing it. The feeling of wind going through your hair, the plunge your stomach takes when you dive or look down. The adrenaline running through your veins and the feeling that you can do anything and go anywhere...the feeling of freedom.

But the feelling isn't enough for some people.

Those who desire and feel the need to be truly free will not let anything stop them from acheiving their goal.

Not even a missing limb or two.

* * *

"C'mon bud, let's see how far we can go today!"

The Night Fury hopped about excitedly, eyes wide. His rider chuckled and placed a hand on his scaled head as the two left the house. The sky was painted the colours of early dawn, with violet clouds draped over the now-dim stars. He had wanted to go out early that day, so as not to lose daylight and also in the hopes of breaking his record for distance travelled away from his island home in a single day. He also wanted to add to the map of the world he had taken to create-not that he was shocked that the world was much larger than what they had initially thought (for him and Astrid, atleast), it felt more like a pleasant surprise to him.

He shut the door as quietly as he could and used Toothless for support as he descended the steps of his porch. Though he had had his prosthetic leg for almost a year now, it still felt quite alien to him and sometimes gave him grief. Walking up and down stairs was a pain and he was going to have to get used to it. He had faith his father would be able to figure out that he was going to be out for the day and was just about to hop onto his saddle when he heard a voice.

"Going somewhere, Hiccup?"

The boy in question winced, his left leg still hovering awkwardly in the air as though he were performing some innocent leg stretches. He slowly turned his head and saw none other than Astrid standing, arms crossed and leaning against a tree with a small scowl on her face.

"Erm." He began lamely but the girl had already begun walking towards them. Toothless glanced up to his rider and nudged him with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Hiccup almost toppled over and he heard the dragon let out a laughing sound. Hiccup would have laughed with him but he had Astrid to answer to.

"Well?" she said in a more demanding tone. Now the two were practically nose to nose.

"I was going to, er, make some-"  
His voice died in his throat when he felt her eyes boring into him. She looked unimpressed. "Alright, I'm going out for the day. Does that satisfy you, milady?"  
He let out a grunt when she punched his arm. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Toothless wearing a smirk, as if he was trying to hold in another laugh.

Before he could ask what the assault was for she had turned on her heel and started walking away.

"That was for lying. Make sure you come back in one piece, both of you." She ordered them before heading back into the village. Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at Toothless who was watching Astrid leave. Feeling the boy's eyes on him he looked up with an expectant look. Hiccup shook his head and got onto Toothless' saddle, slipping his legs into place.

"You ready buddy?"

Toothless' mouth stretched into an attempted grin and he nodded once before bounding down the pathway and taking off into the early morning sky like an ebony screeching bullet and pierced the clouds. Astrid watched from infront of her own house and rolled her eyes at the two when the heavy huffing of her awakening Deadly Nadder caught her attention. She looked down at it with a fond look on her face that only those closest to her would be able to pick out. Her three eyelids opened wide and she raised her rounded spiked head and looked up at her rider sleepily. Astrid sighed and placed a hand on her dragon's head with a small smile.

"Don't worry, Toothless and Hiccup have just gone off for the day again. You can go back to sleep, Stormfly."  
The Nadder in question leaned into her touch and the look in her eyes was almost questioning. Astrid allowed her smile to grow slightly. "I know, but I'm sure they'll be fine. They always are."

* * *

Meanwhile, high in the sky, darting through clouds and yelling praises and the occasional 'WOOHOO!' Hiccup and Toothless had been thoroughly enjoying themselves. When the morning had well and truly broke, Hiccup decided that it was time to go under the cloud canopy to search for any undiscovered islands. The snow white of the clouds dispersed and became a neverending plain of navy, occasionally breached by the spiny dorsal fins from a pod of Seashockers. He could tell that they had already passed over the Isle of the Skullions and had ventured into unknown waters. The question was, how far out were they now?

* * *

A lone giant trudged through a forest of impossibly tall trees grumbling to itself though its emerald eyes were watchful and its pointed ears perked, listening out for the slightest sound. It stopped for a moment and glanced about its surroundings before laying its large eyes on a single tree. It rolled its eyes and let out an exasperated roar before punching a hole in the trunk with a massive fist and turning on its heel and choosing another direction to walk in. Steam puffed from its mouth as it huffed in a frustrated manner. Five minutes later and it stood in a clearing with one hand on its hip and another scratching at the back of its head, ruffling its hair.

_'Great. Just great. How could I get separated and lost so easily?' _Eren thought to himself, _'at this rate I'll be killed before anyone finds me.'_

On their latest expedition, the elites of the Scouting Legion had been ambushed by a group of Aberrant Titans. The new Squad Levi had been forced to retreat into the Forest of Giant Trees. Seeing no other way out of their predicament, Eren transformed against Corporal Levi's orders to combat the Aberrants, managing to stray from the group as he did so. He sighed and looked up, squinting as a ray of sunight that had managed to pierce the leafy canopy got in his eyes. About to continue on his way, a howling whistling sound that tore through the air caught his attention and was startled to find that it seemed to be coming increasingly louder very quickly. His eyes darted about, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise when the sound had escalated to a high-pitched screeching. Before he could do anything else something small collided with his lower jaw so hard and fast that it came clean off. Eren made an odd squeak of surprise and a low groan of pain, feeling around his bleeding mouth. Steam poured out like a waterfall but he was preoccupied with what had caused it in the first place. He saw a smoking pile of crumbled bone that used to be his jaw sitting in a crater and in it...was the most peculiar-looking creature he had ever seen.

Uncertain whether it was dead or alive, he took a cautious step forward and crouched down to get a better look at it. If he were in human form it would certainly be bigger than him. It was blacker than the night sky and covered in scales, with four clawed paws and a set of large bat-like wings. It also had a long, thin tail that had a wing-like flap on the end. Interestingly enough, there was a prosthetic flap on the other side of the tail that had a large hole in it attached to a...saddle?  
Eren frowned and looked around. A saddle meant that there was a rider, and from the looks of it the rider had control of the prosthetic tail flap. Could the creature not fly without it? That had to be the case, Eren reasoned. But the real issue at hand was; where was the rider?

First he checked on the ground, worried he might find a bloody mangled pulp instead of a recognisable human being but he could find nothing. He checked the trees and almost jumped when he thought he saw a giant (well it would have been if he were human) spider sitting in a tree but he calmed down when he realised it was just an extremely gangly person that had been tangled in the branches. Upon closer inspection he found that the person had long-ish messy auburn hair and was wearing a furry vest over a green shirt that looked almost exactly the same as Eren's. On one leg he wore a single Ugg boot but the other was made of metal. Eren's head tilted to the side and his eyes widened. The prosthetic was so intricately designed, but he had no time to admire it as the boy had raised his head, blinking in confusion. Eren leaned forwards, ears twitching as he picked up the boy's voice.

"T...Toothless...?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: ever since I've been writing my other fanfic, Shingeki no Kaiju (which I haven't abandoned if you're waiting for an update on that too, don't worry!) I have concluded that I really don't like writing language barriers so let's just imagine that they all speak the same language. Also I'll include a glossary at the beginning just incase if need be because who wants to wait until the end of a chapter to find out what a word means?**

**draugr- basically an old Norse version of a zombie.**

**Tyr's day- Old Norse coming from Tyrsdagr. It just means Tuesday.**

**And without further ado, I hope you enjoy chapter 2 of Meridian of Misery!**

* * *

"Hey look! A new island! Let's go take a closer look!"

Toothless' eyes snapped down, locking onto the great grassy plains below him. He began gliding down, the pair marvelling at the sheer size of the island they'd come across. They couldn't even see the sea on the horizon anymore! Hiccup was too preoccupied to note down the island's location. They glided down lower and Hiccup could make out huge forests and mountains and eventually...a wall? "Woah." He breathed. Apparently Toothless agreed with him because he turned his head with his trademark grin. "Wanna check it out?" The dragon nodded and prepared to go into a dive, Hiccup adjusting the tail flap in perfect sync with the dragon's own one. Toothless pulled his wings in tight and the two shot down from the sky towards the giant white wall, wind whipping at their grinning faces. Toothless spread his wings mere seconds before colliding with the wall and pulled straight up. They flew straight over the wall and found that it was only a semi-circular segment poking out of a much larger wall.

Toothless let out a curious hum, stretching out his wings to glide at a steady pace as they flew over the structures. Hiccup could see a few villages with oddly shaped houses dotted about here and there, but was too far up to see any people. Or so he thought. He chuckled to himself. "Think we scared everyone off?"

They glided down low past a village and landed just on its outskirts. Hiccup hopped off but didn't move from his spot. Something inside of him was telling him to turn back now, that this whole thing was a bad idea.

On one hand, the houses in the village had a completely different design to the houses he was used to living in on Berk. On the other hand, many of the houses had been almost completely destroyed and there was no one to be seen. "Hello? Anyone here?" he called out. Toothless nudged his leg from behind. "What is it bud?"  
Toothless' ear flaps were pressed against his head and he was making a low whining sound. If Toothless was feeling distressed, then something was seriously wrong. He put a hand on his snout and took one last look at the village before jumping back onto his Night Fury's back. "Yeah...I don't like it either. Let's go..." he murmured before taking off. Despite Toothless' protests, Hiccup steered him in the direction they had been going before. He convinced his dragon that they would leave if they could just fly as fast as they could over to the other side of the larger wall, then they would fly straight back home and not return unless they were with the others. They came upon yet another wall, and inside it, larger towns huddled closer together. Hiccup could just make out tiny specks of people going about their daily business. They flew over yet another set of walls when the young viking realised that there were actually only three walls and that they were all circular.

Unfortunately for them, the cannons on top of the wall had recently been cleaned, and the Garrison were on watch today.

"Hey, what's that?"  
"It's a flock of birds, idiot."  
"No, THAT over there!"  
"Woah...I don't know..."  
"I-it looks like a giant bat..."  
"That's no bat, that's a monster!"  
"Well whatever it is, it's heading right for us! What should we do?!"  
"Shoot it down before it lands! Hurry!"

While they were flying over the smallest wall, something came to Hiccup's attention. The sun was glinting off of multiple somethings situated on top of the walls were a few dots of people were now crowding around and moving about. He narrowed his eyes to get a better look, realising too late what they were as a black ball was heading right towards them at a remarkable speed.

"Toothless! LOOK OUT!"

The Night Fury had dodged the cannonball easily before Hiccup had even finished his sentence but his tailflap got caught by another that had been just out of his eyesight. Toothless barked in shock and turned in the air, eyes widening when he saw his prosthetic tail flap had been damaged badly. "Oh Gods no...!" Hiccup breathed, tightening his grips on the reigns of the leather saddle as Toothless began to beat his wings furiously. "It's okay Toothless, just calm down! Everything's gonna be al-"

The next thing Hiccup knew, Toothless jolted beneath him and was forcefully pushed through the air by another cannonball, knocking the wind right out of him. The two went down, spiralling and spiralling, faster and faster further and further until everything went black.

* * *

When Hiccup first awoke, his view was obscured by two large emerald eyes.

"T...Toothless...?" He mumbled tiredly, reaching out to give his friend a reassuring stroke to tell him that he was okay. It was only when his vision cleared that he froze in place, hand outstretched half-way towards what he had realised was _not _Toothless.

This thing certainly _did_ have teeth, and lots of them.

Its eyes were focused on Hiccup's tiny hand but then they flickered towards his face, making him suck his breath in through his teeth, pulling his hand back. The...creature, whatever it was, seemed to recognise it as a movement of fear and leaned backwards slightly, eyes not leaving Hiccup's once. Not knowing what else to do or how to deal with the thing before him, he said the first idea that came to his mind. "I-I erm, I'm sorry I don't have any food or anything" he started, shakily getting to his feet (well, foot) and pulling out his fur vest, turning to show he didn't have any edible substances on him, or weapons.

_'What? Doesn't he see what...I am?'_

He was surprised to find that the creature's head was tilted and shaking side to side. "You can understand me?" The boy asked. The creature nodded its head. It looked about as surprised to see the boy as he was to it. Had it not seen another human before?...No, he had to have learned how to understand speech at some point. Unless...were all people around here like this?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud thudding, that was noticed by the giant too, as it had turned its head in the direction the noise was coming from. Its brow furrowed and it started growling as another giant stepped out from the trees, only this one was less muscular and was slightlly shorter than the one infront of him. It didn't seem to have as much intelligence as the black-haired one as it had a gormless expression and walked like a draugr. "One of your...friends?" he innocently asked though he knew the answer. The green-eyed giant looked down at him with a disgusted face and shook its head before turning back to the other giant with what Hiccup could only describe as pure hatred in its eyes.

The giant took another lumbering step forward before reaching out for the taller of the two before the latter grabbed its arms, putting a foot on its chest and...

_**RIIIIP**_

It tore the arms off and tossed them to the side, pushing down on the chest as the other giant fell. If the little viking hadn't felt like throwing up at this point he probably did after watching as the green-eyed giant's foot forcing its way through the ribcage of the giant below it, being followed by the other foot that instead went right through its throat. Oh, but it didn't stop there. It pulled its foot out slowly and sent it crashing down again and again, not stopping until steam enveloped the disintegrating corpse. Hiccup swallowed down his bile and edged a little closer to the trunk of the unusually large tree. _'Cmon now, I'm used to seeing gore and guts but this is just...weird' _he thought to himself. Giant naked people killing eachother was not exactly what he was used to seeing on a Tyr's day afternoon.

The giant placed its hands on the branch Hiccup was on, crossing them and resting its head on them. It looked Hiccup up and down, then tilted its head again. Hiccup cleared his throat and kept his hands glued to his sides. "Erm...I hope you don't mind me asking but...did you need to kill that guy so...brutally?"

The giant pulled back with a look of disbelief, making the boy think he had angered it somehow.

_'This guy...he really doesn't know anything about Them...'_

It pointed towards where the corpse was, then to Hiccup. Then he opened his mouth, revealing a pointed tongue and a jagged jawline. Hiccup thought he was about to speak but then he pointed down his throat then at his stomach.

"...Are you trying to tell me that...that thing was going to eat me?"

The giant nodded again. Had it just saved his life? "Are you the only one of...your kind that doesn't eat people?"

It nodded yet again. "Heh, so you're like a rogue giant then?" he joked, his smile growing at the sound of the giant's deep chuckle. He took a few steps forward and slowly reached out with his left hand, closing the gap between the two. The giant's eyes were wide with curiosity, reminding the viking a lot of his dragon.

Wait.

Toothless!

Almost as soon as he had the thought the giant's eyes widened before it pulled back away from the tree suddenly. It roared in pain and threw its hands behind its back over the back of its neck and span around clawing at its back to get rid of the big black dragon that was clawing and biting at it. "Toothless?! What are you doing?! Stop it! STOP IT!" He yelled, running to the edge of the branch and waving his hands about madly in the hopes of catching his dragon's attention. It was all in vain however as the two were roaring at eachother so loudly Hiccup was worried he'd go deaf.

Without a word of warning two flashes of silver attached to a green and red blur flew through the trees straight at the back of the giant's now-unprotected neck (as its hands were coming dangerously close to crushing Toothless, who was now clawing at its eyes) and flew right past it. The giant made a strangled gasp before toppling over, allowing Toothless to leap off the top of its head onto the branch where his rider was as it fell. Hiccup stared at its body where he noticed was a large cut in the nape of its neck where steam was now pouring out. It was dead. Toothless wrapped himself around his rider protectively and raised his wings. Hiccup was scanning the area, trying to find his saviour's killer.

He blinked and then he saw it again.

A flicker of silver from sunlight catching on the metal of a pair of swords cut straight through the clearing in front of them. They were going slower than they had been on the way through but Hiccup managed to get a better look at the stranger.

She had short ebony hair and was wearing a scarf the colour of fresh blood. Her arms and torso were obscured by a green cloak and on her legs were a pair of boxes with some sort of wire coming out of them. In both her hands she held an odd-looking sword but one arm held what looked like a faded green potato sack.

Toothless' teeth were bared at her as she flew past, her head turned towards the two. Hiccup couldn't make out her expression as she disappeared into the green abyss, holding onto her sack like her life depended on it.

He placed a hand on his dragon, still watching the spot where she had left incase she came back.

Toothless relaxed under the viking's hand and retracted his teeth. He looked up at Hiccup with a concerned expression who reassured him with a smile. "Thank Odin you're okay. You had me worried there bud!" Toothless grinned and licked the brunette's face happily, glad that he was unharmed. After rubbing the dragon saliva off his face, Hiccup put his hands on his hips and looked down at the steaming giant corpse. "Okay then buddy. What now?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hiccup discovers a seemingly endless new island. During his exploration of it, he finds three gigantic walls and within them, remnants of a civilisation far more refined than his own. The only problems are the pests.**

**Authors' note: Ah, this took a while didn't it? I apologise for the wait but here it is, chapter 3!**

* * *

"N-no...! Go back...I need...urgh..."

Mikasa looked down at Eren, a faint look of surprise passing on her usually stoic face. Had he been awake the whole time? She hoped she hadn't hurt him.  
"Eren, you need to go back to sleep. You can tell me about that...thing later." Mikasa spoke in a soothing voice as she swung through the trees, trying not to jolt her adoptive brother.

"M...Mika...sa-ahh..." no matter how much he tried to fight it Eren's eyes fluttered shut and his body went limp. Mikasa allowed herself a small smile as she flew through the air back to where the rest of Squad Levi were. She landed perfectly on her horse, alarming the younger members around her.

"You got the brat?" the Corporal asked irritably, turning his steed around with a face that betrayed little to no emotion. Mikasa's eyebrow twitched at his choice of words but she nodded.

"Yes sir." She said through gritted teeth. He was lucky that she had found Eren in such a short time. A few of the horses around had turned in her direction to see if the two were alright. Thin ribbons of steam were rising up from the deep gashes on Eren's face where he had been connected to his other form. She adjusted his position on her horse so that he was sitting leaning into its mane with his head to the side though she kept her arms tightly wrapped around him while gripping the reins. A horse trotted up to her whose blonde haired rider had a slightly worried expression on his face.

"Is he okay? Where'd you find him?"

She was about to answer when the Corporal had walked past, giving the order for their retreat back to the safety of the Walls.

"I'll tell you later," she answered in a low voice, "we need to get away from here though. There's something else out there other than Titans." Armin sat up straight, intruiged, but he asked no more as they all turned their horses around and made their way back through the forest the way they came. Mikasa stole a last glance backwards and shuddered as she swore she could see a pair of freakishly large cat-like eyes watching her in the darkness of the forest before turning back and following the rest of the squad back home.

"You realise he wasn't going to eat me, right?"

Hiccup put his hand over the steaming skeleton and whipped it away almost instantly at the scalding heat. Toothless ignored him as he scratched at the skull, jumping back as it crumbled at his touch. Hiccup's heart was pounding. This creature, whatever it was, had been killed so easily...just by cutting out a section of the neck? The girl, she had equipment specifically to kill it that somehow also allowed her to fly too. The thing she was holding...had it come out of the giant?  
Was the giant really dead?

Too many questions were going through his head and he had no answers. The fact that giants existed at all made a part of him want to start believeing that Gobber's tales of trolls and ogres had a hint of truth to them. But all he knew is that he had to get out of there soon otherwise he might come across more of...them. He guessed that the raven girl was headed to a specific location, maybe inside the giant walls he had seen?

The walls! Of course! They had been shot down by cannons on top of them, so there must be people within the inner two walls atleast. The abandoned village they came across must have been invaded by these giants, meaning that the entire outer wall must've been left to rot. But which wall was he in now? He had to stop himself from asking more questions to further confuse himself. He hopped onto Toothless' back and slipped his feet into place.

"We gotta go find somewhere safe, follow that girl."

Toothless nodded and folded in his wings to run in the direction the girl went, keeping his eyes peeled for any other humans or giants. The wind whipped at Hiccup's face almost as hard as when they had been flying. He pressed himself flat against the Night Fury's back and glanced around, letting out a low whistle when he realised how tall the trees in the forest were. He wondered how old they were when all of a sudden Toothless jerked to a stop, almost sending Hiccup flying off him. Before he could even ask what he was doing the dragon lowered itself to the ground and nodded to the area infront of them.

A group of horses (Hiccup was astounded at their size, he had only ever seen wild foals and they were ridiculously rare on Birk. He was almost tempted to start believing unicorns were more common than them). Each one with a rider on them. They stood in a group conversing, about what Hiccup couldn't hear. They stayed low and watched them carefully, trying to pick out the faces. Hiccup could see a few brunettes, a bald and blonde kid and the girl he'd seen before, they were all turning to go again, being led by a smaller one with black hair. He sat up slightly before the girl turned her head in their direction for a moment. The two flattened themselves as much as they could when she turned back and the group sped off on their steeds.

"Go, go go!" Hiccup hissed but the dragon didn't need to hear it, he had already started chasing after them, darting between trees. As they travelled Hiccup noticed that the trees were thinning and that there were thundering footsteps following them. He turned his head and sure enough there was not only one but two giants running in the most awkward way Hiccup thought possible.

He heard some distant popping sounds and saw trails of black smoke shooting into the sky directly to the side of him where he saw a wagon being pulled by more horses. They were almost completely free of the forest and Hiccup needed to hide himself fast before the two of them got themselves or anyone else into deep trouble.

More importantly he had to get away from those things alive.

He could hear people shouting, more smoke trails shooting up into the air (smoke signals? How on Nirn are they doing it? Hiccup wondered to himself) and steered Toothless closer to the wagon, losing the group from before. Just as they were about to leave the forest HIccup had Toothless dive into the back of the wagon where he quickly formulated a plan.

* * *

When the Scouting Legion had returned later that day Eren was brought to his dungeon where Armin and Mikasa waited by his bedside for him to awaken, agreeing not to talk about what Mikasa had seen until he was awake. Levi busied himself with paperwork which helped him refrain from kicking another one of the boy's teeth out for making him stay out there for longer.

After Eren made no signs of waking up for the rest of the day the two sighed and reluctantly left him to go to their own quarters, leaving the dungeon in pitch blackness.

Outside the HQ Sasha and Connie had been tasked with putting the wagons in place for someone to come along and clear them out.

"Ughhhh this is so tiring..."

"Tell me about it. Why is this one so darn heavy? Think there's food in it?"

The wagon jolted before Connie could reply and it was suddenly slightly less heavy than before.

"Wh-what was that? You felt that too, right?"

"'Course I did! What's even in here anyway?"

Sasha whipped open the curtain and almost shrieked at the sight of a half-naked corpse.

"What, what what is i- holy shit!" Connie yelled as he leapt back. "What the hell?! Where's his clothes gone?!"

Sasha stayed still, looking it up and down with a morbid curiosity. "What are you doing? Just leave it alone for the other guys to clean it up! It's weirdin' me out."

Sasha let out a 'pfft'.

"You wanna know the weirdest thing about this?" She asked, looking down at the body and not moving from her position.

"The fact that you're still talking about it?"

"It's missing one of its socks."

"..."

Hiccup felt terrible for what he had done but he couldn't let himself be caught, especially not when the option to instantly jump on Toothless' back and fly away was not available. The two started fighting and arguing with eachother but Hiccup didn't bother listen as he attempted to stuff his pegleg into a very narrow awkward boot with a sock stuffed into the toes and the rest which stretched up to his tiny kneecap.

He had to put his furry vest and trousers aside as he slipped into the Scouting Legion uniform he'd stolen from a similarly-sized corpse to him. He'd almost had a heart attack when they first landed in the back of the corpse-filled wagon. He could have fixed Toothless' tail flap right there and then with some of the metal fragments and pieces that had been left from the strange boxes the people wore but he was too horrified at the time. It was a shame he thought, he wasn't able to study them as the only ones in the wagon were broken beyond recognition.

He looked at the weird short jacket with the wing emblems on it. These people...had they not seen the world outside those large walls before? Toothless nudged him and brought Hiccup back to the present.

"Sorry bud. Just one day and we'll be out of here okay? I can use my jacket for the flap but I need to find something to replace the connecting rod. Next time remind me to bring spare supplies, alright?"

The dragon nuzzled Hiccup's leg with a low content purr. Hiccup put the jacket back on the ground and started rubbing the Night Fury's head, who shuffled closer to the viking and placed his head on Hiccup's folded knees, looking up at him with a sort of look that said 'you're an idiot but I still love you'

Hiccup chuckled at the expression and started rubbing the dragon's head to cheer him up. "Just one night...don't you think they're all pretty weird though? But...in a cool way, y'know?" Toothless rolled his eyes which brought a hearty laugh from the boy. "I guess you're more interested in getting back home, huh?"

"Uhh...who are you talking to?"

Hiccup almost leapt out of his skin and snapped his head around to find to heads poking out from the other side of the rock he was hiding behind.

"I-erm, there's...ah,"

He looked down to his lap and then straight ahead, only just seeing the outline of Toothless curled up, hidden in the shadows. He turned back to the bald guy and the girl with the hungry eyes. "There was...a dog..."

"Oh! Was it a puppy? Where'd it go?" The girl vaulted over the rock and crouched besides the viking, her hands lightly brushing over the ground. The bald one rolled his eyes and walked around the rock and stood with his hands on his hips.

"It's too dark for any of that stuff, Sasha. You'll never find anything out here!"

"Don't interrupt me, Connie! I'm a born and raised hunter. Its the Braus family way!"

Hiccup couldn't move. He didn't know what to do. Stuck between a rock and a hard place (almost literally) he picked up his (stolen) jacket and dusted it off before standing up and letting out a forced friendly-sounding awkward laugh.

"Ah, it doesn't matter. He'll come back tomorrow I'm sure, ha ha...I think it's about time we turn in, don't you?"

"Hm...okay, if you say so." The girl known as Sasha stopped, her hand just millimetres from finding Toothless' tracks. "Must've been pretty big...hey, have we met? I don't think I've ever seen you around before."

"Erm,"

"Yeah, I don't think I saw you at the initiation ceremony..."

"Well, we were in the top ten, of course we didn't see anyone else!"

Hiccup's eyes widened a fraction, he saw his chance but at the same he was terrified he'd say something that would blow his cover instantly.

"Y-yeah, ah, well look at me, of course you wouldn't have seen me, I only just made the cut but here I am, haha..."

The two shared glances and crossed their arms. Sasha started examining her nails with a smirk.

"I see, well atleast we have some extra hands to help around, right?"

Hiccup let out a sigh of relief disguised as another awkward forced laugh. Either he had just gotten off on sheer luck or the two infront of him were complete idiots. Then again, they said they had gotten in the top ten of some ceremony or something, maybe they were smarter than they look. "Speaking of helping hands, why not help put in the last of these wagons?"

"Y-yeah, sure!"

Hiccup slipped his arms into the leathery jacket, the shortness of it making him feel exposed and cold. How did these people manage? He moved to follow the two, sending a glance back to where Toothless was and saw that he had shifted so that he was hanging upside-down from a tree branch, hidden completely in shadow just outside of the flaming torches ring of light. He managed to catch a glimpse of a green slit that was his dragon's eye.

He awkwardly shuffled after the two, worried the bunched-up (stolen) sock in place of his missing toes would come loose and make him lose his balance and make him look like a complete fool.

After he'd helped the two push the last wagon into place he followed them to their sleeping quarters and almost dropped to his knees screaming his thanks to Odin for his luck that he got an entire empty room to himself, the other ones filled with people his age or older.

He had said his goodnights to Connie and Sasha, somehow managing to slip past the dozen or so sweating, tired, well-muscled bodies into an unusually cold room that luckily only faintly smelled of testosterone. He sat alone on the bottom bunk of a bed right besides the door, thinking about his plan for the next day when the back of his foot bumped against something under the bed. "Huh?"

He slipped off the bed and pulled out what was underneath, letting out a gasp when he found a portrait of someone's family. "Oh no...oh no, no, no..." He dug around under the bed and pulled out a box filled with letters and a locket with another portrait but of a beautifully-drawn young woman in it.

He had to stop himself from looking at anything else, his trembling hands turning the words on the letters into blurred squiggles in the darkness.

He was wearing a dead man's clothing, sleeping in a dead man's bed, looking through a dead man's stuff. He shuddered and shoved it all back under, turning away from it all and curling up on himself on the hard, wooden floor. What had he gotten himself into?!

He shuddered, feeling a chilly breeze passing through the room. He also got a whiff of something burning from outside, so he got up, glad to get away from the person's possessions and stepped over to the window.

He looked out and saw the window was looking out onto some sort of courtyard where a large bonfire had been set up. A group of people standing around were dragging out the wagons he had seen before. Hiccup tilted his head and pushed himself against the glass, trying to hear what they had to say.

"Damn it, this is the worst job..."

"Come on, let's get it over and done with..."

The people wordlessly lifted the covers on the wagons and pushed them closer to the fire before tipping the contents out. Hiccup threw up in his mouth a little for the second time that day. Piles of corpses were being fed to the fire. Hiccup shut his window before the stench of rotting flesh could reach his nostrils. As he reached up to shut it he noticed that there were other people doing the same on the other sides of the courtyard, watching from the safety of behind their windows.

The blank looks on their faces told Hiccup everything he needed to know. These people were used to this sort of thing. He shook his head and turned away from the window, pinching his arm in the hopes that he was stuck in some horrible nightmare. He pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed heavily. He had to find a way to get out of there as soon as possible.

Feeling sick with himself he started rooting through more dead people's things, hoping to find anything he could have used to fix Toothless' wing flap. He didn't care what, he wanted to get out of here and never return until he could find a way to stop the needless bloodshed and death.

Uttering apologies over and over again as he dragged out boxes of people's once most prized possessions after three hours of searching he finally found a toolbox. He rifled through it as quietly as he could, trying not to waken the soldiers in the room adjacent when he found a couple of spanners and wrenches that he could have used. It would mean clunky flight but it would atleast be enough to get him home.

He sighed and brought the tools over to the bed he would be borrowing for the night before laying down and staring at the bottom of the bunk above him. He wondered how everyone on Berk was faring and if his father was worried about him...

* * *

"WHERE IS THAT BOY?!"

"Stoick, I think you're getting a bit carried away, remember that one time he was gone for almost an entire week and he came back safe and sound?"

The chief turned on Gobber like a dragon on a predator who had stolen its eggs.

"Do you mean the time he and Toothless had been kidnapped by the Outcasts and locked in a dungeon for days on end?"

"Erm...oh yeah...right..."

Stoick sighed and ran his hand over his face and ran it through his thick beard. Gobber looked out the window, hoping for a sign of a returning Night Fury but seeing none. Suddenly Stoick punched the wall, leaving a huge crack in it before he stomped out, the whole island seeming to quake under him. Vikings moved out of his way at the sight of him as he stormed out the building.

Hiccup had been missing all day and no one seemed to have any idea where he had gotten off to. Gobber hobbled after the chief, yelling after him before he managed to catch up to him and stop him from breaking someone's house down. "Stoick, Stoick, Stoick! You should really calm down! Just think, he's got Toothless with him, he'll be fine! He's probably just lost track of the time and got carried away with his little map-making and the like. If he doesn't show up by tomorrow afternoon we can all go after him. He's a smart lad, you shoud trust him a little more."

Stoick sighed. The viking with the missing arm was right, he had to have faith in his son. After all, he did manage to teach them all how to train dragons of all things and defeat a Red Death.

"Alright," he grumbled, "He's got till noon. Then every viking on this island who owns a dragon is going out to look for him."

* * *

Levi slammed open the door, thankful his face was covered by a cloth. His jacket was gone, his head wrapped in another cloth and a pair of feather dusters gripped in his fists.

The noise the door caused woke everyone in the room and upon realising who exactly it was that had awoken them they were all on their feet, fists against their chests in a half-asleep salute.

Levi glared at each one of them individually before a door at the end of the room flew open, a cadet with tousled hair and freckles spilling out in a flurry. Not fully realising what was going on he copied what the others were doing, realising it was some sort of salute. He got a few dubious glances from people whose beds were right beside the door. Whispers were being exchanged and the small man at the door raised a thin eyebrow at the sight of Hiccup, but turned his glance to the other teens in the room.

"Alright you lot. You know what day it is. Time to make this place shine or I'll have your heads mounted on my wall."

"Yes, Corporal Levi sir!" came the reply from the teens in unison. They all started to get changed swiftly, Hiccup tugging at his boots to busy himself before the small man pointed a feather duster directly at him, making him freeze on the spot.

"You." He said, his voice slightly muffled by the cloth protecting his mouth. "Get the Jaeger brat. Even his hole of a basement needs cleaning every once in a while." He commanded him. Hiccup did the salute again and mimicked the teens

"Yes Corporal L-Levi sir!" he called, heart skipping a beat for fear he'd messed up the worryingly angry-looking authoritative figure's name before sidling through the group and past the smaller man. As he stepped past him he glared after him. Levi did not recognise the boy. He had to check him out later though. For now their headquarters needed cleaning. He could not stand being in the filth any longer.

Hiccup hurriedly walked down the corridor towards the set of stairs he recalled seeing from the day before, assuming that this 'Jaeger brat' lived in the basement. He wondered why though, was he a prisoner or something? He stepped down the cobblestone stairs, making sure he didn't trip on his concealed pegleg and break his neck.

When he got to the bottom he was unsure of whether he should have knocked or not. He decided to do it and went inside, almost tripping down another set of stairs. At the bottom was a dungeon and inside the bars was a bed, a figure sleeping inside it with a bandage over their head.

Hiccup put his hands on the bars, noticing the boy wasn't shackled to the walls. Why was he being kept in there? "Erm...hello? The er, corporal sent me down to get you so uh...could you wake up now?"

The boy turned over and groaned, putting a hand to his bandaged head before sitting himself up, rubbing his eyes with one hand while pulling off the bandage with the other with a frown, his eyes still closed.

"Ugh, I keep telling them bandages are wasted on me..." the boy grumbled to himself, then moving his free hand to feel his forehead.

"Well if you're bleeding then its advisable to cover it up, you know."

"I know that but-...hey, wait a minute...!"

The boy wrenched his large eyes open and stared at Hiccup in disbelief. The viking shuddered, his eyes looked strikingly familiar yet he'd never seen them before.

Or had he?

"Erm...is there a-"

"I...it's _you!_"


End file.
